The North Korean government is increasingly implementing the death penalty, including for people caught watching and sharing foreign films and TV dramas, according to a major UN report. The dictatorship, which remains largely cut off from the world, is also subjecting its citizens to more forced labor while further restricting their freedoms.
The UN Human Rights Office found that over the past decade, the North Korean state had tightened control over all aspects of citizens' lives. No other population is under such restrictions in today's world, it concluded, adding that surveillance has become more pervasive.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned that if the situation continues, North Koreans will face more suffering, brutal repression, and fear. The report, based on over 300 interviews with escapees, highlights that the death penalty has been increasingly utilized, with at least six new laws allowing for such penalties since 2015.
Watching and sharing foreign media is now punishable by death, as Kim Jong Un tightens control over information access. Escapees revealed that from 2020 onwards, executions for distributing foreign content have escalated, often carried out publicly via firing squads to instill fear.
Kang Gyuri, who escaped in 2023, recounted how three of her friends were executed after being found with South Korean content. She noted the equal treatment of such crimes with drug offenses.
When Kim Jong Un assumed power in 2011, many North Koreans harbored hopes for improved living conditions. However, since the deterioration of diplomatic interactions with the West in 2019, human rights and living standards have diminished significantly.
The report warns of the pervasive control exerted by the North Korean regime, indicating that improvements in surveillance technology have been instrumental in the clampdown on freedoms. The UN calls for international action and for North Korea to abolish its political prison camps and the death penalty.
